Almond Float Recipe

This is a refreshing dessert from Shanghai, China. It is especially pleasing in the summertime. In China, desserts are only served at very special dinners. You may wish to add strawberries, mandarin oranges or fruit salad to the syrup. Serves four or five.

Float ingredients:
2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin, dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water
1 T. almond extract

V.S.P. for float: Heat milk to just below boiling. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add gelatin and stir until completely combined. Stir in almond extract. Pour into an 8”x8” pan and cover. Refrigerate about four hours or until solid. Serve with syrup given below.

Syrup ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups warm water
1 t. almond extract

V.S.P. for syrup: Dissolve sugar in water. Cool slightly in refrigerator. Add almond extract. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour.

To serve: Cut gelatin into small squares and float in syrup. Serve in individual rice bowls and garnish with strawberries, mandarin oranges or fruit salad.

Chinese Roast Pork Recipe

Here is a traditional Chinese flavor principle exemplified in a traditional dish. This roast may be served as an appetizer, as a main course, or mixed with other foods and stir-fried in the Chinese manner. Serves three or four.

Ingredients:
3 T. soy sauce
3 T. dry sherry
2 T. hoisin sauce
2 T. honey
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 t. finely minced ginger root
1 to 1-1/2 lbs. boneless lean pork loin, excess fat removed

Step 1. Combine soy sauce, sherry, hoisin sauce, honey, garlic and ginger, mix thoroughly and pour over pork. Marinate pork, refrigerated, for 2 hours, turning pork frequently inn marinade.

Step 2. Roast pork on a rack over a pan of hot water in a preheated 350 degree oven 50 minutes. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes. Cut into thin slices and serve with duck sauce, if desired.

Chinese Duck Sauce Recipe

It is possible to buy perfectly acceptable bottled duck sauce, also known sometimes as plum sauce, however homemade is just wonderful. We have found many ways to use it, not just for Chinese food.

Ingredients:
Enough plums, peaches and apricots to make 5 cups when pared, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup sugar

Step 1. Boil a pot of water; drop each piece of fruit into the boiling water for one minute and remove. Slip off skins. Chop fruit into small pieces, discarding pits.

Step 2. Combine vinegar and sugar. Place fruit in a large stainless steel pot and add vinegar-sugar mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1-1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve cold.

Sweet and Sour Sauce Recipe

Great with pork balls, chicken and shrimp.
 
Ingredients:
1 15-oz. can pineapple chunks
2 small carrots
1 green pepper
1 T. corn starch
1 T. brown sugar
2 or 3 t. soy sauce
2 T. vegetable oil
2 to 3 T. white vinegar
3 to 4 sweet pickles, sliced

Procedure:
Drain the pineapple chunks, reserving juice. Peel and slice carrots thinly; slice green pepper and remove seeds and membrane. Simmer vegetables gently in pineapple juice for 5 minutes or until tender. Mix cornstarch, brown sugar, soy sauce, oil and vinegar together until smooth and stir into vegetables. Cook for 3 minutes. Add pineapple chunks and sliced pickles to pork balls and serve hot.

Pork Ball Recipe

Ingredients:
1-1/4 lbs. minced fresh pork
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 t. salt
1 T. dry sherry
1 T. soy sauce
Oil for frying

Procedure:
Combine minced pork and garlic. Season with salt, sherry and soy sauce. Form meat mixture into small balls about the size of walnuts. Sauté in hot oil for about 5 minutes on each side. Remove pork balls to a serving dish with previously prepared sweet and sour sauce. Serves 4 or 5.

Hsing Jen Chi Ting - Cantonese Chicken Recipe

Chicken and vegetable dish the Kitchen Mouse makes for his children and friends.
 
Ingredients:
3 T. vegetable oil
1/2 t. salt
2 cups diced raw chicken
2 T. soy sauce
1 cup cooked peas
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup canned mushrooms
1 cup boiling water
1 T. cornstarch
1/4 cold water
1/2 cup toasted almonds (optional)

Step 1. Heat oil and salt in an electric frying pan or wok; when oil is very hot add chicken and sauté for 3 minutes. Add soy sauce and stir well.

Step 2. Add celery mushrooms, peas and boiling water very slowly. Mix cornstarch with cold water and add to wok. When the gravy has thickened and become clear, remove from heat and transfer to a shallow serving plate. Sprinkle with toasted almonds. Serve very hot with a side of plain or fried rice. Serves 5 or 6.

Chi Tan T’ang - Egg Drop Soup Recipe

Very easy to make and it is usually enjoyed by everyone.
 
Ingredients:
2 T. cornstarch
6 cups chicken broth
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. white vinegar
1/4 t. pepper
1 scallion, minced
3 eggs, beaten

Procedure:
In a large saucepan mix cornstarch with a small amount of cold chicken broth. Add remaining broth and other ingredients except eggs. Bring to a boil and simmer until clear, stirring occasionally. Gradually drizzle eggs into the soup, stirring slowly, season to taste, and serve at once.

Shrimp Ball Soup Recipe

Whenever The Kitchen Mouse makes this soup, he keeps the cost reasonable by using the small tiny shrimp which are available in the local supermarkets.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. shrimp, shelled, deveined and finely chopped with 2 T. water
1 t. dry sherry
1/2 t. salt
1 T. cornstarch
5 cups chicken broth
4 leaves Chinese cabbage, cut in 3-inch strips
1 t. salt
1 T. dry sherry
Dash pepper

Procedure:
Mix the shrimp with 1 t. dry sherry, 1/2 t. salt and 1 T. cornstarch. With wet hands, form walnut-size balls with about 1 T. mixture. Set aside.

Bring chicken broth to a boil, add shrimp balls and Chinese cabbage. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add 1 t. salt, 1 T. sherry and pepper to taste. Serve hot. Serve 4 or 5.

The Kitchen Mouse - More Chinese Recipes

Originally published March 29, 1984

When the Kitchen Mouse is invited by a Chinese friend to his home for a meal, he can tell which kind of Chinese meal will be served by looking at the table. If the dishes to be served are all on the table, it is a family meal. The family meal will consist of at least the four basic dishes: one meat, one fish, one vegetable and one soup. You will sit down to a table setting of a bowl of rice, a pair of chopsticks, a soup bowl with a china spoon, and a plate to place your food on. You can help yourself to the central dishes. At the end of the meal, hot tea will be served. Fruit or dessert may be served, but don’t count on it.

If you are invited to a banquet, you should also notice the table: a banquet table must be round and is always set for 10 to 12. If more people are invited, more tables will be set. The seat farthest inside the dining room facing the entrance is for the guest of honor. The seats opposite the guest of honor are for the host and hostess. At a banquet, the different dishes are served one at a time. Appetizers are first, followed by sautéed or fried dishes, then the main course (about four to six dishes) is served. Soup or a sweet may be served between the other dishes  as well as the last dish. Of course, each time the soup or sweet are served, they are of different kinds.

To begin the banquet, the host drinks a toast to the guest of honor, and then the guest of honor expresses his thanks in a toast. The host then helps the guest of honor to the food. Only when the guest of honor starts to eat can the others start. So whether you are partaking of a family meal in the home of a Chinese friend or attending a banquet Chinese-style, you will always feel at home.

On today’s Kitchen Mouse Chinese Menu:
Ssu Chi Ton Niu Ju - Cantonese Beef with Green Bean
Tung-Sun Ch’ao Jo - Cantonese Pork with Bamboo Shoots
Hsieh Fu Yung - Vegetable and Crabmeat Egg Fu Yung
Basic Fu Yung Sauce Recipe
Hsing Jen Ping - Almond Cookies

Ssu Chi Ton Niu Ju - Cantonese Beef with Green Bean Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. top round of beef, thinly sliced
1/2 lb. green beans
1-1/2 cups boiling water
2 T. vegetable oil
Marinade:
2 T. soy sauce
1 t. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/2 t. salt
1 T. sherry

Procedure:
Combine marinade ingredients, coat beef with marinade and let stand 20 minutes. Trim the beans and cut to 2-inch lengths. Pour boiling water over beans; drain beans immediately, reserving 1/4 cup of this water. Heat oil in wok and sauté beef for 20 seconds. Add beans and sauté another 30 seconds; add reserved bean water to mixture. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute. Serve on a shallow dish immediately.

Serves 2 American-style or 4 to 5 when accompanied by several other Chinese dishes.

Tung-Sun Ch’ao Jo - Cantonese Pork with Bamboo Shoots Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sliced bamboo shoots
1/2 lb. pork, thinly sliced
1/4 cup water
Marinade:
2 T. soy sauce
1/2 t. salt
2 T. sherry
1 T. cornstarch

Procedure:
Mix ingredients for marinade; add pork to marinade. Heat 2 T. oil in wok frying pan over medium-high heat; add bamboo shoots and sauté for 2 minutes. Remove from pan and keep warm. Add remaining oil to wok and sauté pork for 5 minutes. Add bamboo shoots and the water and bring to a boil. Simmer for one minute, stirring constantly. Serve very hot in a shallow dish. Serves 4.

Hsieh Fu Yung - Vegetable and Crabmeat Egg Fu Yung Recipe

This omelet is filled with vegetable and crabmeat. It has been one of the Kitchen Mouse’s favorite Cantonese recipes for over 55 (now 80) years. In the 1930’s New York Chinese restaurants served egg drop soup, Egg Fu Yung, side order of plain rice, a pot of tea and dessert. Total cost then was just twenty-five cents.
Ingredients:
1 cup crabmeat
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup shredded onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
3 T. vegetable oil
6 eggs
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. cornstarch
1/2 t. salt
Dash pepper

Procedure:
Put crabmeat and bean sprouts in a large bowl. If using canned sprouts, rinse and thoroughly drain sprouts first. To cut onion into shreds, cut into halves top to bottom; put cut side down on cutting board and finely slice with the grain of the onion (top to bottom). Sauté onion and celery in oil until limp, about 5 minutes, remove from pan and add to crabmeat. Beat eggs with soy sauce, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Pour over crabmeat and vegetables and mix thoroughly.

Put 1/2 cup mixture on greased griddle or skillet and brown on each side. Keep hot until all are cooked. Serve with Fu Yung sauce. Makes about 4 servings.

Basic Fu Yung Sauce Recipe

Cook until thick 1/2 cup water, 2 teaspoons sherry, 1 T. soy sauce and 2 t. cornstarch. Serve with egg fu yung. You may substitute chicken, beef or pork stock for water for a richer sauce.

Hsing Jen Ping - Almond Cookie Recipe

The Kitchen Mouse has found this cookie to be a favorite whenever he serves them. A pot of oolong tea and a dish of these almond cookies are a great final course for any meal.
Ingredients:
1 cup lard
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 t. almond extract
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
Almond halves

Procedure:
Cream lard with sugar until light. Add egg and mix well. Add almond extract. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix well. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly by pressing center of cookies with thumb. Place half an almond on top of each cookie.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven about 10 minutes. Makes about 54 cookies.

The Kitchen Mouse’s Chinese Meal

Originally published March 26, 1984

The Kitchen Mouse is now celebrating the Chinese year of the rat.

Babies born between February 2, 1984 and February 19, 1985 are seductive, energetic, of good counsel, charming, meticulous, intellectual, lovable, sentimental, generous and honest.

Your signs of the zodiac predict  the following: these years are yours alone. Profit from every single angle you see before you. It won’t be long before your sign comes under some straining influences. Lay in stores. Save your money and eat wisely.

Chinese Cuisine

Just how far back good cooking actually goes back in China is hard to determine, but the Chinese were early discoverers of fire, and have been farmers for well over 4,000 years. In the course of their long history they have evolved a high sense of harmony in the delicate blending of tastes and textures.

Some cooks believe that Chinese food is too exotic to be attempted in the home kitchen, but nothing can be further from the truth, for no special utensils are needed and the few special extras - soy sauce, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts - can be found, bottled or canned, in most local groceries.

Chinese dishes are inexpensive, quick to prepare and fun to cook. Using an electric wok or frying pan, you can cook Chinese food right in the dining room in front of your guests. A Chinese dinner served in true oriental fashion assures a nice evening. And for those who like an authentic atmosphere, Chinese serving dishes and chopsticks are inexpensive and easily available.

Serving a Chinese Meal

Rice is the staple food of the Chinese but it is a mistake to think that the Chinese eat nothing but rice. Rice is the center, the focal point, but is usually ringed with a large variety of dishes, each blending perfectly with it and with each other. An average Chinese meal consists of one or two soups, one or two meat dishes, an egg or fish dish and one or two vegetable dishes served in conjunction with rice.

The one supreme meat for the Chinese is pork. Those who can afford it eat it almost every day. Poorer Chinese dream about it, and even the poorest save up a few coins to buy some with which to celebrate special occasions.

Today's recipes: 

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Pork Balls

Hsing Jen Chi Ting - Cantonese Chicken

Chi Tan T’ang - Egg Drop Soup

Shrimp Ball Soup